30 September 2008

Am half way through the next issue, and thought I'd give you a preview of the tentative cover. Am hoping to finish DIGESTED.02 by year's end.

In other local news, this Saturday the Melbourne Fringe Festival (Town Hall Galley: Hawthorn TownHall) is on, and Jo Waite is organising a local comicbook creator exhibit in it. The theme for the artwork is 'Ugly, Drunk &/or Stupid.Thursday (2-Oct)Opening (6-9pm)

22 September 2008

Thought I'd just share with you a preview of a page I just finished this weekend. This is a double-page spread of a short piece that'll be in DIGESTED.02.Ok, first I sketch a small thumbnail of what i have in my mind.

It's a very quick composition with basic shapes. Pretty much all my thumbnails are like this. I like to get the shapes & proposrtions right, before I go into detailed penciling. (The thumbnail is about 14cm wide x 8cm high, just to give you an idea... oh, and it's a double-page spread - notice the fold marks in the middle.)

Next, I scan the small thumbnail into the computer, enlarge it so that it can fit on A3 & print it out on 2 seperate a4 sheets, stick them together - then use that as my undrlay. I then place my final artcard over the top, and lightly pencil the shapes. Once the light penciling is done, I take the underlay away, and have a fun time penciling all the details.

Next I ink the pencilled page.

I usually start with the foreground, and work from thickest lines, to thin/details. Here, I started with the forground of traffic, and used thick lines first (ie. The closest objects) - and then going further away into the perspectives using thinner nibs/pens.

See... the thickest lines are all filled in first.

I do it this way because it gives the drawing a 'confidence' of foundation. When I proceed to the details next, I then feel like the drawing in 'anchored' with the thick blacks and foreground. If I did the background (small/thin details) first, I'd probably feel a little apprehensive because I'd be worried if the main/obvious lines of the foreground (which people will see the easiest) - isn't done yet... so i think "am I doing this deatail all for nothing?"... I guess I like to get the hardest stuff out of the way first. Just the way my mind works.

The inked page. (Background/details done.)

The completed artwork of the 2-page spread. (2 greys used.)

There's still letttering to be done to the page to finish it, but you'll have to wait to see it in DIGESTED.02... hopefully out by year's end.

16 September 2008

Last Sunday 14th Sep. (at 2pm in the afternoon), Mandy Ord organised an informal gathering at the Napier Hotel in Fitzroy. From what I hear, Mandy works on Saturday's and can't make our regular meetups, so this was a chance for another gathering for those who have Sunday's off. Any chance to sit and chat about comics and see local work is a treat for me (I mean how often do you get to do it in 'regular' life, right?), so I made my way down.

Upon arriving there were only about 5 people gathered, but it quickly filled up.

Queenie brought a whole stack of Graphic Novels to return to John Retallick. Quite a big pile too! Out of titles such as Seth's 'Its a Good Life if You Don't Weaken', 'Palestine' (and many others) - her favorite seemed to be Jeffrey Brown's 'Unlikely'. It's not uncommon to hear (I think he's very easy/natural to read.), because of his sympathetic and measured way of looking at relationships.

Interestingly, I found out that Jason shared my fondness for Henry Rollins. I must admit, I like his books much more than I do his music.

After a while, there were quite a few people there. Cosy and chatty.

Sorry to all the people who's names I forgot to mention in the above photos. I'm awful upon meeting people the first/second time around (in passing) and can never seem to remember people's names unless i write them down (and I didn't really want to do that.... people would look at me a little strange.) - but after a few meetings - i should get people's names filtering through my basic brain.

An A4-sized blank jigsaw was being passed around that people drew a comic panel in, then passed it along. (A novel idea.)

For those who didn't make it - you missed out on a relaxed Sunday gathering.

11 September 2008

Firstly, sorry for being a few days late on this month's meetup update. I do these updates at my day job, and this week has been incredibly busy.

Ok... This month's meetup had about 25-30 people. A big improvement over last month's meet where there were only 4of us. Just goes to show you can't pick it... (Also, most everyone caught an aweful cold that swept the city in that week... so I suppose I can forgive them all this once.)

Anyway, I got there a little late (unusual for me, as i like to get there about a half-hour early to make the most of it, and read a book or sketch as I wait for people to arrive) - and was welcomed by the steadfast regaulars, Paul, James(Behind Paul), Greg & Colin.

What a nice welcome from my regualar comicbook buddies....

Soon it started to fill in...

John Retallick giving some advice.

Philip Bentley (publisher of 'Word Balloons') and I had a nice conversation where he gave me some constructive criticism about my last book DIGESTED.01. It's always good to hear people's thoughts on your work, and even better when its good advice from a seasoned publisher. Thanks to everyone who's given me feedback on it too, it's really helped in shaping the next issue.

Don't mess with Bruce.

You might remember in a post at the start of the year (3-Feb-08), I brought along a special 'nib' pen that i purchased on the net. Well, Colin Wilson (yes THE Colin wilson) tried to get one too, but got the run-around. I've been meaning to give him the pen for a while (As i hardly use it, and figured "Hey, at least someone productive should make use of it."), and recently did.

He was kind enough to surprise me with a wonderful inked page. (I think using the pen in places).Innit just sweet?...

This month's turnout was really great. Many people came and the spring weather only made it better. It was sunny and cool... Perfect. Only later did it start to cool down and each of us started to put on our jumpers and coats.

At the end of the night, with only myself, Mike Nason & James left... the conversation started to (as it often does with beer) turn to philosophy and the 'meaning' of things. Unfortunately (or fortunantly) I had my girlfriend waiting in the car for me and I had to scoot.

Highlights this month:

Nice conversations with all. Was a really big & friendly atmosphere.

Queenie Chan & John Retallick showed up.

John brought along a whole stack of 'auto-bio' comics.

Looking at Mike Nason's penciled pages to his upcoming comic.

The chat with Philip Bentley

Colin's Dredd sketch (Thanks!)

I'll be catching up with a few of the guys/girls this Sunday, so see some of you there. Now I just have to finish my last few panels for Bernard Caleo's 'TANGO' anthology (Deadline is Monday:15th Sep) - and so i'll be at home Friday night scribbling away.